Status Now 4 All

February 22, 2021February 22, 2021

Life in ‘contingency units’

The Home Office says that people are assessed as to their suitability for life in the camps – Penally and Napier – people who have been sent to the camps said that there was no assessment carried out to their knowledge, other than on first arrival when they may not have fully understood the situation or the language (or interpreter).

In relation to social distancing, people who have been living in the camps describe sharing sleeping areas with many other people, having to use communal showers, sharing toilets with many others, eating in a large area which everyone is expected to use, one communal room for socialising for everyone where the internet signal could be found and the (two) TVs were kept.

February 21, 2021February 21, 2021

Fewer than one in six ‘hostile environment’ raids led to deportations

21 February 2021: Guardian: 190 ‘intelligence-led’ raids on cares homes results in 37 care workers removed from UK

Fewer than one in six of more than 44,000 “intelligence-led” Home Office immigration enforcement raids on people’s homes since the introduction of the “hostile environment” policy have resulted in deportations, according to data obtained by the Guardian.

According to a freedom of information (FoI) response provided to the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants by the Home Office, between 2015 and 2019 there were 44,225 raids on private homes resulting in just 7,578 people deported. There were also 190 raids carried out on care homes resulting in just 37 care workers removed from the UK.

[…] Susan Cueva, trustee at Kanlungan Filipino Consortium, which works with migrants including those working in care homes said: “We know that care homes lack staff. The Home Office should stop raiding care homes. It is counter-productive. The solution is to regularise the immigration status of these workers who are carers. That’s the most practical way to deal with this situation.”

She said that if any undocumented workers were working in care homes they were more likely to be indirectly employed, but to come through other routes. This could be one reason why Home Office raids on care homes appear to have such a low success rate.

February 16, 2021February 16, 2021

Home Office ignored Covid advice not to put asylum seekers in barracks

16 February 2021 Guardian: Public Health England warned against using Napier facility before outbreak of coronavirus, court hears

The Home Office ignored advice from Public Health England that housing asylum seekers in dormitories in army barracks was inappropriate in a pandemic, months before an outbreak of 120 Covid cases.

In a high court hearing on Tuesday – brought by six asylum seekers who claim that conditions at the barracks are inhumane – the Home Office conceded that it was arguable that the use of Napier barracks to house the group was unlawful and in breach of human rights.

February 10, 2021February 10, 2021

Home Office needs reform to avoid a second Windrush scandal, thinktank report says

9 February 2021: Yorkshire Post: The Home Office is at risk of being at the heart of another Windrush scandal if it does not end its “hostile environment” policy, a new report has warned.

The “hostile environment” group of policies, which were introduced by the then Home Secretary Theresa May in the coalition government in 2012, were designed to discourage people settling in the UK without leave to remain.

They include access to services such as the NHS or housing being restricted if immigrants cannot prove their legal right to remain in the UK.

February 9, 2021March 3, 2021

Hostile Environment: Fear is stopping migrants getting the Covid-19 vaccine jab, research suggests

8 February 2021: Morning Star: MORE than 80 per cent of undocumented migrants are too fearful to access the Covid-19 vaccine due to NHS charges and data sharing with the Home Office, new research suggests.

The government stressed today that everyone, regardless of their immigration status, will be offered the vaccine without any checks on their right to be in the country.

But campaigners have warned that reassuring people is not enough to ensure that they feel confident to access healthcare without facing repercussions from immigration enforcement.

February 6, 2021February 6, 2021

Campaigners claim thousands of Britain’s undocumented migrants could miss out on Covid vaccine

6 February 2021: Morning Star: A DECADE of hostile environment policies could harm Britain’s recovery from the pandemic as hundreds of thousands of undocumented migrants face barriers to the vaccine, public health campaigners warn.

More than 10 million people have already received at least one dose of the vaccine in Britain, but campaigners claim that the country’s population of undocumented migrants — estimated at between 800,000 and one million — risks being left out of the programme.

The government has specified that everyone in Britain is entitled to receive the Covid-19 vaccination free of charge regardless of their immigration status.

However public health and migrant rights groups warn this message isn’t cutting through deep-rooted fears of the NHS instilled by nearly a decade of hostile environment policies in healthcare — and the “majority” of undocumented migrants are unlikely to come forward.

February 3, 2021February 3, 2021

UNDOCUMENTED IN LOCKDOWN: WE DEMAND OUR RIGHTS & DIGNITY.

2 February 2021 Migrants Organise

This blog was written by Ruth, a member of Migrants Organise, following an organising training session with a number of other Migrants Organise members.

UK is in a third lockdown. But how is it for undocumented migrants?

Life continues as normal. Everyone is told to stay at home to control the virus and to save the NHS. If you are an Asylum Seeker or an Undocumented migrant you can’t afford to stay at home as you have to survive because you are not entitled to Universal Credit or to be furloughed from your job. If you are displaying symptoms of Covid, you cannot isolate as you have to work to provide for basic essential needs.

We are scared to go to the GP or the hospital because you might be asked to provide ID and to prove your immigration status which can be embarrassing, as you can be turned away from receiving medical help.

I spoke to a friend who is undocumented yesterday, and this is what she told me:

February 2, 2021April 15, 2021

Give people Indefinite Leave to Remain – stop this carnage

2 February 2021: Yesterday, a representative from one the organisations that are a part of the Status Now Network told the Network’s regular Monday night Reference Group meeting about how they were trying to comfort someone whose friend has just died from Covid-19, and whose entire community is reeling with the depth and scale of their losses.

The person who died is in her late fifties. She came to UK about 20 years ago as a domestic worker leaving her child behind so that she could financially support him from a distance, which is common in situations of profound poverty back home. People become undocumented for many reasons and she too became undocumented.

January 30, 2021February 3, 2021

A fire has broken out and fire engines have been called to Napier Barracks in Folkestone following an upsetting afternoon for the residents

People placed in Napier camp, Folkestone have been living under significant pressure for a long period of time, they have had demonstrations to try and bring this to people’s attention, and this spilled over today.

This report is from Status Now4All signatory Care4Calais:

30 January 2021: Care4Calais@Care4Calais· 300 men have been left in Napier Barracks after yesterday’s fire. Many spent the night with their belongings destroyed and without electricity or heating. We are fundraising to help get emergency provisions into the camp – you can donate here:

29 January 2021: Care4Calais reports: · A fire has broken out and fire engines have been called to Napier Barracks in Folkestone following an upsetting afternoon for the residents. They each received an impersonal letter from Clearspings, the accommodation provider, saying they would be split into new ‘bubbles’ and would need to self isolate for a further ten days.

Following last weeks transfers, many had thought they had a chance of leaving the camp. The letter was a great disappointment.

January 30, 2021February 2, 2021

Asylum Seekers of Napier barracks speak out

Following the fire at Napier camp on 29 January 2021, we have received the following letter from Napier Camp residents. Please read the letter below from 22 January 2021 also.

30 January 2021: Dear all,
As one of the residents in Napier Barracks and on behalf of so many of my friends here, I want to express my sadness and sorrow for what had happened yesterday. It was horrible to see a building burning, see the fear in everyone’s eyes and to see the staff in difficulty and pain. We want to say how sorry and disappointed we are, that this incident affected people. Especially the staff, firefighters, police and etc.

As you all know, living in a terrible condition and unsafe when it comes to Covid, affected all the residents physically and mentally. Their protests, hunger strikes and suicide attempts were all ignored from the Home Office. This incident was not something that we all wanted to happen.

People respond to anger differently. Each of us react in our own unique way when we are desperate and disappointed. Some may protest peacefully, some refuse to eat, some commit suicide and when you are even more ignored some may lose control. I want you all know that this was not something that we all can approve. The majority of us are against violence as we escaped it.

Words cannot express our shame and sadness, our solidarity with the ones who are affected by it.

I also want to ask the Home Office and other authorities to take action against violence and also make sure that Napier Barracks will be closed as it is no longer safe and secure. It is mandatory to see the people in camps as human beings and desperate people. We are all the same, thus we all express our emotions differently when we are under pressure.
Last but not least, we all want to thank the police and firefighters who helped everyone to be safe and fine.

Asylum seekers of Napier Barracks

2021 Jan 30 Napier camp letter Download

January 28, 2021January 28, 2021

Behind closed doors: Filipina workers trapped by the pandemic

27 January 2021: Guardian: Journalist Corinne Redfern discusses the impact the pandemic has had on the Filipino women trapped overseas, including Mimi (not her real name) who works for a wealthy family in London for just £5 an hour. Mimi was asked to keep working through the first lockdown with the family coaching her on what to say if the police stopped her. In her spare time, Mimi helps other overseas workers escape situations where they are being abused

January 23, 2021January 23, 2021

Undocumented migrants must have access to the vaccine too

Migrant Voice: While we welcome the rapid rollout of the Covid-19 vaccination programme in the UK, we are concerned that there are many UK residents who have no idea if, when or how they will have access to the vaccine: they are undocumented migrants, who live and work among the rest of us, but who don’t have the same access to healthcare and may be too afraid to seek out the chance to be vaccinated.

January 16, 2021January 16, 2021

A cry from Twitter: I need help

This is just one example of many.

January 13, 2021July 31, 2022

ICIBI An inspection of the Home Office’s use of sanctions and penalties

2021 Jan 14: #ICIBI Publishing the report, David Bolt said: For many this will seem to be a case of too little, and much too late. From ICIBI’s perspective, in 2016, and again in 2018 and 2019, a series of inspection reports recommended that the Home Office should monitor and evaluate the impact of the hostile/compliant environment. These recommendations were only “partially accepted” and never implemented. Had they been, some of the harms suffered by the Windrush generation and others may have been avoided.